‘Border czar’ Tom Homan threatens military action against Mexican cartels if necessary
ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — “Border czar” Tom Homan said President Donald Trump won’t hesitate to use the U.S. military if Mexican cartels target American troops on the southern border.
“I think the cartels would be foolish to take on the military, but we know they’ve taken on the Mexican military before, but now we have the United States military,” he told ABC News Live on Thursday.
“Do I expect violence to escalate? Absolutely, because the cartels are making record amounts of money,” Homan said, going on to say that they continue to secure the border, “We’re taking money out of their pocket.”
Homan said the troops “need to protect themselves” and that he would send a warning to the cartels if any U.S. soldiers are harmed: “The wrath of President Trump’s going to come down.”
“He has the ability to wipe them off the face of the Earth,” he said.
On his first day in office, Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border, allowing the Department of Defense to deploy armed forces to the region.
He also signed an executive order to designate drug cartels and other criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations or specifically designated global terrorists.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also been conducting raids across the nation to round up undocumented migrants for deportation as part of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.
The administration has said the first priority in these raids is to target violent criminals.
About three-quarters — 76% — of the 14,000 migrants who have been arrested so far are criminals, Homan told ABC News Live on Thursday.
“Where do the collaterals come? The collateral arrests happen when we’re looking for the bad guy and we find others with them,” he said.
Homan said he doesn’t have a daily quota on arrests of undocumented migrants, saying, “I want to arrest as many as we can arrest.”
“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table, but you’re not going to be a priority,” he said.
Asked how the administration contends with deporting families back to dangerous countries, Homan responded, “What country is dangerous?”
Many migrants entering the U.S. come from countries such as Haiti and Venezuela, which have the strictest “do not travel” warnings from the State Department due to violence.
“People need to understand what is asylum. Asylum is, you’re escaping fear and persecution from your home government because of race, religion, political affiliation and participation in a specific social group,” he said.
Homan argued there are many “fraudulent” asylum claims that have overwhelmed the system and legitimate asylum-seekers are “sitting in the back seat.”
“What you don’t do to claim asylum is enter the country illegally,” he said. “You go to a port of entry.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday sent a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin telling him to make a deal now to end the war in Ukraine, threatening economic consequences if he doesn’t.
“It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL.’ NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!” Trump wrote in a new social media post.
Trump indicated that if a deal isn’t made quickly, he would place high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions on Russia.
“Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a “deal,” and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” Trump said.
Trump then threatened that it can be done “the easy way, or the hard way.”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday night, Trump indicated he’d be speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin in person.
“I’ll be meeting with President Putin,” Trump said, but didn’t say when that might happen.
Trump also indicated that Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy was willing to come to the negotiating table, but is unsure if Putin would, too.
“He told me he wants to make a deal. He wants to make — Zelenskyy wants to make a deal. I don’t know if Putin does,” Trump said.
During the ABC News debate in September, Trump claimed he would settle the war between Russia and Ukraine before he got into office.
At one point, he had also signaled that the war would be over within 24 hours of becoming president.
(WASHINGTON) — Ahead of Linda McMahon’s hearing to become the next secretary of the Department of Education, America’s state teachers of the year for 2024 have said they worry the future of public education is under direct attack.
De’Shawn C. Washington, the 2024 Massachusetts teacher of the year, said he will be heartbroken if the Department of Education is dismantled under McMahon.
“This is a great opportunity to invest even more in our children right now, instead of retracting,” Washington told ABC News. “To pull further in, to watch those seeds grow and become a harvest, so that our country could thrive.”
President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order to abolish the Department of Education. The order, which has not been signed yet, reportedly calls for the education secretary to submit a proposal to diminish the department and urges Congress to pass legislation to get rid of it.
McMahon has vowed to carry out the president’s policies, and her allies have said they believe she has the business acumen to make budget cuts as she sees fit.
The looming department changes could be devastating for vulnerable students, according to Jeff Keller of Virginia. Keller warned shuttering the federal agency could mean students will have less protections and schools will have less oversight.
“When I think about what the Department of Education means, it means safeguarding kids’ civil rights,” Keller told ABC News.
“Whether that’s students with disabilities having the ability to get into the building and to get around the building … whether that’s safeguarding, you know, racial minorities to make sure that educational outcomes are equitable for them — I mean, I think it’s across the board,” Keller said.
Colorado’s Jessica May said she fears her students’ basic needs won’t be met if the department is abolished.
“What I am most afraid of is they are not going to get the attention and the care and the dedication that they need to survive, to live,” May said.
However, abolishing the Department of Education can only be done if Congress passes legislation to eliminate it. Clare McCann at American University said it is illegal to “uncreate” the department without congressional authorization — and it would require 60 votes in favor of the legislation in the Senate to pass.
Still, these teachers, who were all awarded their states’ top teaching honors in 2024, said they’re a nervous group right now.
Zach Arenz, the New York teacher of the year, predicted lost educators, increased class sizes and a widening achievement gap in which wealthy communities get wealthier through school voucher programs.
“All of these things are going to lead to a weak public education system,” he told ABC News. “If our public education system isn’t successful, there is no future.”
Arenz said he hopes teachers are listened to moving forward. Kentucky’s Kevin Dailey said he is also worried about student opportunities, arguing a conservative school voucher push would privatize the public school system and enrich private businesses.
“Kentucky schools receive over $1 billion a year in federal funds [from the Department of Education] in order to facilitate the growth of our communities,” Dailey told ABC News. “Kentuckians, not just teachers, not just public school students, but Kentuckians believe in strong public schools.”
McMahon is ‘in over her head’
McMahon, the president’s pick to carry out his vision for injecting school choice throughout the nation’s schools, will go before lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Her nomination to become the next secretary of the Department of Education has been loathed by many top educators.
“She’s well in over her head,” Greg Kester, the 2024 Missouri teacher of the year, told ABC News. Kester has been teaching over 30 years and said McMahon is a step down from billionaire Betsy DeVos, Trump’s first education chief, arguing education isn’t McMahon’s “calling.”
However, McMahon earned a teaching certification from East Carolina University before pivoting to the wrestling arena. McMahon spent most of her career as a business executive and wrestling mogul, and the president has praised her for her knowledge of both business and education.
But Indiana’s Eric Jenkins told ABC News there’s a distinct difference between the two fields.
“There are similarities between business and education, but the core difference — the purpose,” Jenkins said. “So the purpose of a business is to increase profits. The purpose of education is to increase opportunity for all students.”
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency made sizable cuts to the Department of Education this week, slashing critical independent research contracts at the department’s Institute of Education Sciences worth nearly $900 million. Jenkins said he embraces a department that works to create efficiency — so long as the budget cuts don’t hamstring students.
“What brings us together, these different state teachers, regardless if they’re blue or red, is that we see those numbers actually as our students’ faces,” Jenkins said. “I think that’s where we’re coming from, is that we truly see the faces and the impacts that cuts are going to make.”
Conservatives such as Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, said McMahon has the business mindset to create innovative solutions for all students.
However, Virginia’s Keller said he disagrees, noting the nation’s next education chief should run the country’s public school system like it’s the “backbone” of society, not a corporation.
“I don’t think you got to be a K-12 teacher, but I do think you have to have a mindset that understands schools don’t exist for the benefits of teachers or the benefit of students: They exist for the benefit of society,” Keller said. “It’s not a business. We’re not in business. That’s not what schools are.”
A man shouts at Rep. Chuck Edwards during a congressional town hall meeting on March 13, 2025 in Asheville, North Carolina/Sean Rayford/Getty Images
(ASHEVILLE, N.C.) — Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., was confronted by angry constituents during a town hall meeting on Thursday night about President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping cuts across the government.
“How do you justify cuts to staff of the VA helping veterans, especially those with long term care needs,” asked one constituent who was met with a standing ovation from the raucous crowd in Asheville, North Carolina.
“So first of all, there have been no cuts to the staff at VA as of this point. Like him or not, Elon Musk has brought a lot of really smart people,” Edwards responded as he was met with a round of boos. Earlier this month, an internal VA memo indicated that the agency was preparing to lay off 80,000 from its workforce.
The interaction turned so contentious and hostile that Edwards had to be escorted out of the building.
“You don’t get to do this to us,” yelled another constituent.
Republican leadership has told their members to avoid in-person town halls like these after several members were grilled in their home districts.
Edwards, however, went against their advice on Thursday.
“”You see a lot of advice in Washington, D.C. from different folks saying, you know, ‘Republicans shouldn’t be out there doing town halls,’ and I’m thinking ‘why not?’ I love the people,” said Edwards.
The Trump administration is pushing forward with sweeping cuts with thousands of workers already having been laid off across the federal workforce – including Veteran Affairs, the IRS and the Department of Education.
Elon Musk split with the White House this week, suggesting that entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security could be on the chopping block next.
“The waste and fraud in entitlement spending, which is all of the, which is most of the federal spending is entitlements, so that’s like the big one to eliminate,” Musk said earlier this week.
Those words have left some voters very concerned, with Edwards taking the brunt end of the attacks Thursday night.
“What are you doing to ensure the protection of our Social Security benefits,” asked on constituent to a round of applause.
Replied Edwards: “I’m not going to vote to dissolve your Social Security. I’m not looking to disrupt Social Security at all.”
